Companies briefs

Macmahon Holdings has rejected a $25 million takeover offer for the group’s construction business from Singapore’s Sembawang engineering group, citing the bidder’s inconsistent conduct and breach of normal commercial confidentiality.

Leighton Holdings
has already struck a deal with
Macmahon
to buy the business. Macmahon said there was significant uncertainty and risk to Sembawang’s bid and it was not in the interest of shareholders. Jenny Wiggins

Virgin Australia
has made the switch to the more advanced Sabre booking and check-in system without any major hitches.The airline increased staff by 30 per cent at airports and call centres around Australia this week. The Sabre system, which puts Virgin on the global distribution system (GDS) to book flights for the first time, went live on Sunday and replaces the more basic Navitaire reservations system that suited Virgin’s needs when it was still a predominantly low-cost leisure carrier.

The new system will allow Virgin to integrate its own network with those of its international partners, and is expected to increase revenue from code share flights. Andrew Cleary

Nexus Energy
has again halted production at its Longtom gas venture in Victoria, its only producing asset, due to an electrical fault, cutting its cash flow. The fault could either be at Santos’s plant where the gas is processed or at the Longtom facility, Nexus said.

Angela Macdonald-Smith

Brazil-based iron ore miner
Crusader Resources
said it would start mining by February and could generate after tax profits of $1 million a month. The miner forecasts costs of just $12 a tonne and will deliver iron ore to local Brazilian steel makers. Ayesha de Kretser

South Australia-focused explorer
Centrex Metals
said the resource at its Fusion magnetite project near Port Lincoln is now 653 million tonnes, up 30 per cent from an earlier estimate. The project is a 40:60 joint venture with China’s Wuhan Iron and Steel.